Battlestar Galactica SOLAR EXPLORER Rack Toy (Larami Corp, c.1978-9)

 

Not much in the way of suspense or photos here, but here it is! An unused vintage rack toy.  As you probably know, companies made legions of plastic compasses, binoculars, flashlights, plastic knives, axes, and everything else...and then just stickered them with logos of various properties, and viola: rack toy! Guaranteed minutes of fun for your whining child. Then it breaks, of course.

Often, they would try and loosely connect it to the property in question.  Here, the binoculars and telescope become tools to enable you to be a "Solar Explorer," but just try and be the first man to land on the sun, I dare you.

There is even a sloppy sticker we can see.  If you want to know MUCH more about these legendary toys, I would highly, highly recommend the book RACK TOYS by Brian Heiler of Plaid Stallions fame.  It's still in print and reasonable--we get nothing from this endorsement; it's just completely rad and you will love the book.

And, as the great Chuck Barris used to say: "We will be right back.............with more stuff."

MONSTER OLD MAID Card Game (Milton Bradley, 1964)

 

Here is a vintage monster item that I actually found in a shop somewhere, complete even, for 1/3 of what it's worth! This game is nothing if not a snapshot of the classic monster era, from the golden years of model kits and local TV horror hosts.

Let's face it: you had Old Maid as a kid, and I did too (we looked at the 70's Marvel Comics version here, years ago), although mine was the crappy version with an actual Old Maid.  60's kids were much better off.  

Before we dive in, I need to point out that there are some very unusual choices for the card art in this game...starting out, you can easily see the "Universal Picture" copyright on the front, so you know we are in good hands--but still, some strange decisions were still made in the monster selections for this game.  

As you know, here at The Sphinx, we go the extra mile:  I thought it would be fun if we tried to identify exactly what these unusual cards depicted, and even find their source images...so here we go:

Here is the instructions ("Directions") card, which is one-sided.  The backs of all cards in this game looks like this:

As you probably know, all numbered cards in Old Maid come in pairs (except for the Old Maid), so we will look at the better-condition card for each number in the set, starting with #1:

Card 1 is the Creature From The Black Lagoon, old Gill Man himself (first name Gill, last name Man). He was the youngest Universal monster at the time of this game's release.

Card #2 is Frankenstein's Monster, and you would expect them to use Boris Karloff, but nope, instead here is Glenn Strange, who played the monster in HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, HOUSE OF DRACULA, and ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN.  Below is the exact promotional photo that this image was taken from:

Card #3 is The Mummy, and once again, it's not Karloff either, but instead Tom Tyler from one of the sequels: THE MUMMY'S HAND:

Card #4 takes a weird turn.  It alludes to I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF (1957), which wasn't a Universal movie at all, but American-International...a film which was only 4 years old at the time, and was a big hit.  It actually depicts Henry Hull from WEREWOLF OF LONDON:

Card #5 is Dracula, so you know it's Bela Lugosi.  For fun, here is the promotional photo they used:

Interestingly, you can see that they touched up his left eye, which was covered in a shadow in the original photo...back in the days where you had to use an airbrush!

Here we go again, with Card #6.  This isn't even a "Wolf Man" per se, it's a werewolf, specifically Oliver Reed in Hammer's CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF! As it turns out, Universal distributed the film in the U.S. Here is a promotional photo using this image:

Card #7 continues the Hammer theme with their PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. I would've used Claude Rains, but I am sure that the Herbert Lom one was more common in the FAMOUS MONSTERS magazines of the day:

Again, Universal distributed the film in the U.S.

Card #8 is the reverse of #6: "The Werewolf," but actually "The Wolf Man!" (I guess we are splitting hairs, which...there's a werewolf joke there somewhere.)  This is Lon Chaney, Jr. from ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET THE WOLFMAN (the best A&C movie):

Card #9 UPDATE: This is Lon Chaney senior from the silent HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1923), right? Well, not exactly:  thanks to a comment from Anonymous (see below), this is actually James Cagney from MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES:

...which of course, was also a Universal flick!

Card #10. If you are reading this post...then I don't have to tell you.

Card #11 is Gill again. Now the repeats really kick in.

Card #12 is Glenn Strange's Frankenstein's Monster, again:

At least, for #13, they gave us a different Mummy actor, which in this case is Lon Chaney, Jr., from THE MUMMY'S GHOST:

Card #14 is Henry Hull, again, making you think he's Michael Landon...again? This card looks very much like an old postage stamp-type design to me.

#15 is a Dracula repeat, but hey, it's Bela, so what are you gonna do. They had to work on this image some, from the original:

Card #16 is a repeat--see Card #6!

Card #17: Not Lon Chaney, Claude Rains, or Herbert Lom, but--once again--James Cagney from MAN OF A THOUSAND FACES! Thanks to Anonymous, for setting me straight on this one!

Moving on, we finally get Lon Chaney, Jr., as THE WOLF MAN--oh, wait, "The Werewolf."  Whatever, I give up.

Card #19: See Card #9 for the answer!

And now, the Old Maid--Dracula's Daughter! Hey, that's pretty fun--hold it, Gloria Holden was Dracula's Daughter:

This instead is Andree Melly from Hammer's BRIDES OF DRACULA:

Which, you guessed it, was distributed by Universal.

And there you have it--I have to admit, I would've been tempted to broaden the scope, and include some giant 1950's Universal monsters, and throw in a Tarantula, a Deadly Mantis...I don't know, even a Monolith Monsters card, just to help break it up.  But, I can see, from a purist perspective, why they did what they did.  It's very much of its time...and it's certainly not every day that you run into a vintage monster collectible from back then!

Movie Monsters Figures (Palmer, c.1964)

 

Let's start October off right, by taking a look at some classic, vintage monster toys! These awesome figures were made by Palmer Plastics around 1964 (some sources say the date is unknown, while some state 1964 as the year they were made--there are no markings or years on any of them), and they stand about 3 inches tall.  These are what some people call "dimestore" toys, but they were also sold in packs of 10, which we will see in a moment.  They were available in red, yellow, green, and even a rare blue color, which is the hardest to find.  Somehow, all of mine are the red and yellow varieties (red on yellow, kill a fellow), but I'm planning to acquire some examples of the other colors next.

 

Here is a look at each figure; there are some surprising choices in this set!

Dracula - This one works pretty well, and you know right away who it is. He kind of has a Count Chocula stance!

Cyclops - This one is a curve ball--this is actually Ray Harryhausen's Cyclops from 1958's THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD! I didn't see that coming.  Of course, there is rather a scale problem here, but the coolness makes up for it.

Frankenstein('s Monster) - This one works very well, and is a lot of fun.  Imagine a world where the first Universal movie was titled FRANKENSTEIN'S MONSTER, and maybe everyone would be referring to the creature by the correct name, all these years later.

King Kong - Here is one of my very favorites.  This is such a well-done figure.  Lots of people don't know this, but this figure actually came with a tiny Fay Wray, who was attached by a sprue when you purchased Kong. You can actually put her in his hand! But, as you would imagine, she was very easily lost....and as a result, a complete figure can be several hundred dollars.  Still, though, I gotta get me one of those someday:

Werewolf - To me, this is one of the least-effectively-executed sculpts in this line, because it's not super easy to tell what's going on.  At first glance it looks like an old-fashioned zombie.  It also reminds me of Bela's Ygor with the broken neck in GHOST OF FRANKENSTEIN! However, the name given on the multi-pack is "Werewolf," so that is the final answer.  

It! The Terror From Beyond Space - On the header card for the 10-pack of figures, this figure is called "It Came From Outer Space," which is the wrong movie (which was 3-D and from 1953).  This is actually the alien from IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE (which I believe is a Martian?), from 1958, which lots of people cite as the blueprint for ALIEN, etc.  Another unusual choice for this line!

Gorgo - YES! Freaking GORGO! Well, let's be fair, this could also be an Ogra figure (his mama)....but the package says Gorgo.  Somehow, the title monster from this 1961 British attempt at a kaiju film was included in this great line.  This is my favorite figure in this set.  I am a gargantuan GORGO fan and even own the original one-sheet poster.  (I will also be the first to admit to you that, in the interest of fairness, the movie has too much reliance on military stock footage, which does bog it down...but otherwise it is a damn fine movie, and I will cut a man who says otherwise.) Sorry, I got a little carried away, there...come to think of it, I need to get this figure in green.

Creature From The Black Lagoon - This is another one that is hard to see, at a glance...it almost looks skeletal, but when you zoom in, it dawns on you what's going on (this one would also work better in green).  

This is a spectacular set of figures, with loads of personality and charm...and oddly enough, NO Mummy to be seen anywhere!  I do wish there could have been a second series.  That would've been fun.

Lastly, here is the photo of an unopened 10-pack that goes around (I think it came from Pinterest, but I do not know the origin of this photo, or I would give the appropriate credit--it's not mine):

One thing to point out is that technically, the proper name of these figures should probably be "Unbreakable Movie Monsters"...? 

Also, check out the artwork on the header card, showing a groovy Frankenstein's monster leading Gorgo around on a chain! 

One last thing that jumps out at me.....is that you could buy 10 of these for 98 cents! What a deal!